Paul Metternich (diplomat)

Paul Anton Marie Hubert Graf Wolff Metternich zur Gracht (born December 5, 1853 in Bonn , † November 29, 1934 in Heppingen , Rhine Province ) was a German diplomat . He became known for his work as German ambassador in London (1901–1912) and in the Ottoman Empire (1915–16), especially in connection with his role as a witness to the genocide of the Armenians .

Paul Graf Wolff Metternich to the canal

family

Paul Anton Marie Hubert Wolff Metternich zur Gracht came from the ancient Rhenish noble family of Wolff-Metternich . He was the youngest of six children from the second marriage of Levin Wilhelm Anton Walburg Marie Hubert Count Wolff Metternich zur Gracht (1811-1869) and Josephine Maximiliane Countess Hompesch-Bollheim (1823-1858). The headquarters of Wolff Metternich zur Gracht was Schloss Gracht .

Life and activity

Metternich was accepted into the German Foreign Service in 1882 . After working in Vienna , Paris , Brussels , London and Cairo , he was appointed German ambassador to Great Britain in 1901 . During this activity in the years up to 1912, which was the high point of his almost forty-year diplomatic career, he tried in vain to reduce political friction and to relax the tense German that was primarily caused by the naval competition , primarily on the German side - British Relations.

In his reports to Kaiser Wilhelm personally as well as to his Imperial Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow and Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg and their State Secretaries for Foreign Affairs , Metternich constantly pointed to the lack of acceptance of German foreign policy in Great Britain. For example, on June 5, 1908 (Große Politik 8209), he warned Chancellor Bülow that, due to its current foreign policy course, in the event of war Germany would have to reckon with “malevolent neutrality, and most likely and almost certainly even open hostility from England”.

Metternich's warnings were systematically undermined and countered by Wilhelm Widenmann , the naval attaché at his embassy, ​​who strictly rejected Metternich's foreign policy course, which was oriented towards understanding and reconciliation. Metternich hoped to eliminate the German-British tensions by responding to British wishes (limiting the strength of the fleet of the continental power Germany to a significantly lower level of quality and quantity compared to the fleet of the British naval power within the framework of a naval agreement). So he wanted to give the British security and regain their goodwill. On the other hand, Widenmann demanded a tough course, which should put Great Britain in front of a fait accompli and enforce friendship "on an equal footing" by building an equivalent fleet.

After German-British negotiations on the naval conflict at the so-called Haldane Mission in the spring of 1912, Kaiser Wilhelm II finally decided in favor of Widenmann's position and against Metternich's advice. He then resigned from his post as ambassador in May 1912. Wolff-Metternich's place was initially Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein for a few months, and in September 1912 Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky succeeded him. In Great Britain, Metternich enjoyed great reputation regardless of the critical German climate. For example, on March 7, 1912, Vanity Fair magazine declared him " The Man of the Day ". His departure was therefore received with depression in political circles in the United Kingdom and often - as shown in the memoirs of Prime Minister's wife Margot Asquith or the Tory politician Sir Austen Chamberlain - as a victory for the Berlin "war party", whose opponent is Metternich looked at. Chamberlain saw in Metternich's dismissal evidence of the Berlin leadership's denial of reality. In his estimation, Metternich was dismissed "precisely because he reported unpleasant truths to his government".

After being temporarily deactivated, Metternich took over the post of German ambassador to the Ottoman Empire on November 19, 1915 . There he tried again to exercise a moderating influence. His attempts to curb the brutal Armenian policy of the Porte or to induce the German government through his petitions to use its influence on the government in Constantinople to induce it to moderate it, however, were unsuccessful. After the Chancellor did not give him any support and the Turkish government was increasingly disgruntled about his attempted intervention, Metternich was finally removed from his post on October 3, 1916.

Quotes

• In Great Britain Metternich enjoyed great popularity as a person, for example Sir Austen Chamberlain wrote that he had "most friendly feelings" for Metternich (Chamberlain: Englische Politik. Essen 1938, p. 574).
• “I will work with the greatest zeal for the maintenance and development of German-Turkish relations. These relationships, based on the community of interests and the feeling of togetherness of both nations and on the complete trust of the governments, guarantee a happy future for both sides. ” (Ülger, Eris, Ataturk and Turkey in the German press (1910–1944), 2nd edition , Hückelhoven 1993, p. 25. Quoted from Vossische Zeitung December 13, 1915 No. 635.)
• “This time I deliberately presented to the Grand Vizier and not to a member of the Triumvirate because I know that he disapproves of the persecution of the Armenians. He does not have the power to hire her, but he will be very happy to use my ideas with his colleagues. Finally, I spoke to him of the abuse which Turkish lower officials were indebted to by the false assertion that the Germans were promoting the persecution of the Armenians. This slander is widespread in Anatolia, as I have incontrovertibly known from travelers and other sources. We are by no means inclined to share responsibility for Armenian policy with the Turkish government, and I ask him to emphatically oppose these rumors. The Grand Vizier was not aware of such rumors. But he explicitly promised to have it denied. " - Paul Wolff-Metternich to Reich Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg on December 9, 1915 (Document 210 in Germany and Armenia )

literature

• Eberhard von Vietsch (ed.): Against unreason. The correspondence between Count Paul Wolff Metternich and Wilhelm Solf , 1915–1918. With two letters from Albert Ballin . Schünemann, Bremen 1964.
• Walter Keßler: Ambassador in London - Count Paul Wolff Metternich zur Gracht - born 160 years ago . In: Yearbook of the City of Erftstadt , 2013. Kulturamt Erftstadt, pp. 50–52
• “Those who stayed alive were left naked” . In: Die Zeit , No. 13/2005

Web links

• Literature by and about Paul Metternich in the catalog of the German National Library
• Letter from Wolff Metternich to Bethmann Hollweg dated February 17, 1916
• Newspaper article about Paul Metternich in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
Paul von Hatzfeldt	Ambassador of the German Reich in London 1901–1912	Adolf Marshal von Bieberstein
Hans von Wangenheim	Ambassador of the German Reich in Constantinople 1915–1916	Richard von Kühlmann